BY NIGHT, veteran rocker Brian Johnson fronts one of the world’s biggest bands.

But by day, the Gateshead-born, flat cap-wearing AC/DC singer is a passionate car collector and racer.

And in his new autobiography, Rockers and Rollers: An Automotive Autobiography, the gravel-voiced star tells how his love of cars and music have grown together.

From cramped teenage fumbles in an old mini to chauffeur-driven, leather-trimmed limos and a sideline as a successful racing driver, fast cars and rock’n’roll have been hand-in-hand all the way.

Johnson joined band-mates Angus and Malcolm Young, Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams in 1980, just before they released their biggest-selling album, Back in Black.

But he made his name in the early 1970s with top North East group Geordie, who scored a number six hit with All Because of You.

The name of the band that set him on the path to greatness is a sign of Johnson’s great pride in his heritage. Another is the time he launched a four-letter verbal attack on Chuck Berry for getting it wrong.

“We’d been with him all week and, as he was leaving, I asked him for an autograph and he said no,” he said.

“Then he told someone I was Scottish and that really did it. I’m a Geordie, so that’s kind of English, even if not fully English.”

Just as Johnson’s music career started on Tyneside, so did his love of motors.

The star remembered once driving backwards for nine miles across the city – because his clapped out old car got stuck in reverse.

“It was bloody awful,” he said. “I was in a sit-up-and-beg Ford Poplar. My girlfriend lived in a cul-de-sac. I had to back out and the bloody thing wouldn’t get out of reverse, it was jammed solid. I drove through Newcastle, down to the quayside, across a bridge and took every little back alley I knew. It was getting dark and I couldn’t see a thing, my neck was knackered.”

Now, the Dunston lad is a world-wide star, and AC/DC could soon overtake the Beatles as the biggest-selling band of all time.

The rockers’ latest album, Black Ice, scored a number one in 29 countries and sold more than 780,000 copies in the US alone.

“In recent years, people have been saying rock and roll is dead, that guitar bands are finished, but it’s the biggest survivor,” said Johnson, who lives with his wife in Sarasota, Florida.

“Now we’ve got kids aged eight or nine who are fans, and their dads are fans. And it’s quite mind-blowing.”

The singer still has his early love of motors – and his favourite car is British.

“When you climb in the Bentley 4.5litre, you know you’re one of the very few men who have been lucky enough to get their hands on one,” he said. “The driving is so special.”

One of the rocker’s other more memorable motoring moments was when he nearly crashed while racing footballing star Les Ferdinand.

“In a race at Silverstone, I went into the gravel trying to avoid ‘Sir Les’ Ferdinand,” he revealed. “That was the only race I didn’t finish.”

But he warned other motoring enthusiasts against rocking out to classic AC/DC anthems behind the wheel.

“Whatever you do, don’t drive when you’re listening to Shoot to Thrill from the Back in Black album,” he said.

“You will get a ticket. It’s vicious – a great driving song.”

Brian Johnson’s book, Rockers and Rollers: An Automotive Autobiography, is out now.